The last-minute holiday shopping season is officially here! To help shoppers discover new and unique retailers in their local communities, Google is sharing the top local stores in the United States according to data from users’ actions on Business Profiles on Google, like direction requests and clicks to call, and the number of reviews and average user rating.
From jewelry to electronics and toys, these local spots are popular in their communities and might have the perfect last-minute gift for those on your list. You can check out the top stores below:

Happy Holidays! Google does not endorse or promote the businesses included on our "Local Spots We Love" lists. The lists were created based on aggregated data from October 2018 reflecting Google user actions related to these businesses, including but not limited to direction requests, clicks to call, number of reviews, and average user rating.

Last year, shoppers said they completed 30% of their holiday shopping before Thanksgiving.1 With that busy time of year fast approaching, it’s time for small businesses to get ready.

We’re here to help – join us for a special livestream workshop, “Drive a Holiday Shopping Rush for Your Business.” We’ll discuss how to get in front of your customers and showcase what you offer using Google My Business, Google Ads, and more.

And, since it is the season of gratitude, we want to give a #SmallThanks to you, the local businesses that make our communities special. In this livestream, you’ll also learn how to get free customized #SmallThanks marketing materials to promote your business and turn your customers into your biggest advocates. (Get started today by visiting the #SmallThanks Hub.)

We’ll wrap up the workshop with a live Q&A session. For the chance to have your questions answered live, post your questions on Twitter using the hashtag #HolidayLivestream18.

School is in session: Sharpen your pencils, pull out that notebook, and settle in on July 25th when we share a special livestream workshop. Learn about key strategies and tools to help your business prepare for a successful second half of the year, including the holiday season.

Can’t find one that works for you? Register to watch our livestream online (Wednesday, May 2 at 9am PT/12pm ET). Ask your questions during our live Q&A session by posting your question on Twitter using the hashtag #PartnersConnect.

If you made a New Year’s resolution to grow your business online in 2018, we’re here to help. Tomorrow, February 21, Google is teaming up with the Small Business Administration (SBA), Facebook, Constant Contact, and Square to host a livestream workshop.

Experts will share best practices for keeping your business competitive, tips for creating a positive experience for online and in-person shopping, steps for expanding your reach, and advice on building brand loyalty using email. We’ll finish the workshop with a live Q&A. You can post your questions in the comments section of the Facebook Live broadcast.

Be sure to follow and post using the hashtag #SBAOpen4Biz on social media to see how other businesses are tuning in.

Today, we are hosting a research livestream at 12pm PST with Deloitte, building on previous research about how the web is helping small businesses grow. We commissioned additional analysis to better understand the barriers that small businesses face in adopting digital tools. By publishing this research, we hope we can have more impact through our programs and partnerships in helping small businesses grow online. Tune in here.

Read on for highlights from Deloitte’s analysis which we’ll be discussing in our livestream later today:

Women-owned small businesses are adopting more digital tools.

Between 2007 and 2016, the number of women-owned firms increased by 45%, compared to just a 9% increase among all businesses. Deloitte’s research found that women-led businesses are also more likely to be using digital tools. Around 55% of women-owned small businesses are using more advanced digital tools.1Kim Ormsby, founder of Natural Baby Company in Bozeman, MT knows the value of using digital tools first-hand. She started the company when she was pregnant with her second child and connected with like-minded parents around the world the world using the Internet. “The web is pretty much where all of our growth is happening.”

Rural-based small businesses are less likely to be using advanced digital tools than their non-rural counterparts.

Deloitte’s research found that rural-based businesses are not as likely to be using advanced digital tools. While they face many similar challenges to non-rural small businesses, US small businesses in rural areas were twice as likely to report having an inadequate Internet connection. Jim Hobart, co-founder of Alpaca Direct in Hayden, ID, has had to overcome this Internet access challenge to build a thriving yarn and apparel business that serves over 100,000 customers in 30 countries. In a Senate testimony, he discussed the challenges that rural-based small businesses face: “For a small business in northern Idaho, our sales demographics may surprise you. 92% of our annual sales are online. In the USA, our four top selling states are New York, California, Texas, and Florida. We feel that improved Internet access…needs attention. Our competitors in urban areas are operating on the equivalent of a 12-lane freeway while our access to that freeway is a like a worn-out toll road."

The smallest businesses are less likely to be using advanced digital tools.

Deloitte found that only 12% of small businesses with less than 10 employees were digitally advanced, compared to 39% of small businesses with 100-250 employees. While the smallest businesses are less likely to be using advanced digital tools, those that are online are holding their own against much larger competitors. Villa Lagoon Tile based in Gulf Shores, AL has seen the power of digital tools to help them grow. With ten employees, they work on a very niche product - durable cement tiles - and heavily rely on online tools to find their customers. According to John Adams, Director of Technology, “AdWords is really perfect for matching clients and vendors in a niche market. We could never compete with big-box stores on standard tiles. But we can compete for cement tiles thanks to Google search and advertising.”

Small businesses face real barriers to fully using digital tools.

When asked what prevents them from using digital tools more, Deloitte’s research uncovered a number of barriers. 40% of small business respondents reported that digital isn’t relevant for their business and 38% said it’s not effective. 34% selected concerns about privacy and security. Small business owners also reported facing resource constraints. 30% said they don’t have enough experience with digital tools, 29% said they have no time to learn about digital tools, and 28% said that digital tools are too expensive.

Next steps for learning more about digital tools.

There may some hurdles to using digital tools, but as we learned in Deloitte’s first report, small businesses can greatly benefit from building their presence online and reaching new customers. Many small business owners tell us they want to be doing more with digital, but they often don’t know where to start or have enough time to decide which tools to use. To introduce busy small business owners to digital tools that can help them grow, we designed Google’s Get Your Business Online training program as a way to get started and better understand the value these tools can offer. To learn more about how digital can help your business grow, find a workshop near you.

The full results from the Deloitte Connecting Small Businesses research can be found here. We hope you’ll tune in to our research livestream today at 12pm PST here.

Posted by Soo Young Kim, Small Business Outreach

1. Women-owned businesses using either high or advanced digital tools as defined in Deloitte’s digital engagement ladder

Last year we published research with Deloitte about how the web is driving small business growth. The study found that the use of digital tools (such as websites, analytics, and online marketing) positively impacts small business growth in four key ways: reaching new customers, reaching new markets, growing faster, and creating jobs:

Despite these benefits, 80% of small businesses in the United States are not fully utilizing the power of digital tools. Therefore we commissioned a second report from Deloitte to better understand why more small businesses aren’t using advanced digital tools.

Join us on January 17th at 12 PM PT / 3 PM ET for a livestream presentation where we’ll share our new research, and host a panel discussion featuring small businesses who have used digital tools to grow.

Learn more about the livestream and RSVP here. We hope you will join us.